10 years later

I was obsessed with the news on September 11, 2001.

Little did I know that 10 years later I would be writing the news on September 11, 2011.

On that day in 2001, I was still deciding between marine biology and emergency pediatrics as potential careers. Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were just that funny pair on the Today show and the World Trade Center was still on my list of landmarks to visit whenever I made it back to the Big Apple.

It would be another six years before I set foot in NYC.

That's what ground zero looked like in December 2007. Nothing like the grand skyscrapers I remembered passing as a young child. Less like the rubble pile I remembered seeing on television for the latter half of 2001 and beyond.

An announcement over the loudspeaker during my second period math class asking teachers to turn off TV's and radio caught everyone off guard.. until one of the kids spoke up and said a small plane had hit the World Trade Center. I still couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.

My friends and I made our regular stop at our old science teacher's classroom that morning, only to have him tell us to come in and shut the door. And that's when I watched the south tower of the World Trade Center collapse on live television.

There isn't much that will ever take my breath away in this lifetime as everything did in that single moment.

I was barely 13 years old. My mind took off in a million different directions immediately.. wondering if my mom was going to be okay in the medical center.. if my dad was going to be stuck on the Air Force base.. or even called back to the military just a few short years after getting out. It seems a little crazy now, but we'd never dealt with anything like this. I just didn't know.

Both of my parents were waiting in the parking lot to pick me up from school that day. I just remember running to them and bursting into tears, knowing I was so lucky to have both of my parents there.. while hundreds of kids just lost theirs.

I grew up in the military. I knew what it was like to watch my friends' parents leave for overseas assignments. I was also lucky enough to spend the earliest part of my childhood in a more peaceful time, so the fear wasn't really there. Then I heard the stories from friends on my last military base.. stories of the base shutting down, all of the kids in school off base being loaded on buses immediately and taken home.. not knowing what would happen next.

It really comes down to the fear of not knowing. And the anger that built within because someone had the guts to get on an airplane and help end thousands of lives.

I still remember listening to then-First Lady Laura Bush address the children in America.. and realizing then that things would be okay.

The scars of 9/11/01 are still there.. and I will probably never be able to watch footage from that day without breaking down. It will still feel like yesterday when I see it in a history book twenty years from now. It was a defining moment for several generations.. one that falls in the same league as Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassination.

The moment that serves as a black eye, but doesn't have to be a final blow. Thousands died, but our nation still prevailed.
So here I am 10 years later.. the world has changed, but that day is still fresh on my mind and my heart. I don't just watch the news - I write it, and I remember that there are thousands of men and women who fight to make sure I have the right to do so.. because freedom isn't free.

If a picture's worth a thousand words..

Then here's my Saturday.

Leave all your love and your lovin' behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive

Remember what life was like when you were in your early 20s? I'm not sure how old each of you reading actually are, so please don't take that question in a condescending or rude tone. I'm being completely serious.

Do you remember how you felt about life? Was it full of endless possibilities? Did you always feel confident? Or was there still a twinge of the awkwardness and self-doubt leftover from your teenage years? Because I've got to be honest. I still don't feel like I've got this "growing up" thing down.

Apparently these are supposed to be the best years of my life.

Which I find particularly funny, seeing as I feel like nothing in my life is concrete or settled. Maybe I'm supposed to take solace in the fact that I'm free to do as I like with pretty much nothing holding me back. I never know what tomorrow will bring.. if I'm making the right decisions.. or if I'm really living up to my full potential.

Everyone else seems to have this amazing confidence in me.. and I'm really just not sure where that came from. I'm still trying to find my place in this world.. as cheesy as that sounds. My friend Nicole says I always seem to land on my feet - and yet again, I have no idea how.

Sometimes I'm so type-A that it makes even me crazy. To be honest, I think I'm so concerned with making everyone else happy that I forget about myself.

So.. please help me out. I'm looking for solid advice on getting through your 20s.. because I'm seriously having a love/hate relationship with this whole growing up thing.. and I'm really not sure if I'm doing this right.

Come on, Irene

You've all heard it.. everyone and their mother was singing an altered version of that lovely little ditty all last week.

Now.. how many of you knew that was Dexys Midnight Runners BEFORE then? I did!

An older couple at Howl at the Moon (piano bar in SA) caught me singing along one night and asked if I knew who the original group was. Um, duh. My parents (yes, I was out at a bar with my parents) laughed.. poor couple didn't know that my siblings and I love 80's music.

Anyway, I feel like my weekend was been pretty much me, myself and Irene. Seriously.

I hit my first group live this past weekend - which means I counted our anchor down so he could toss to the national reporter - exciting! It's kind of nerve-racking to be honest, but I'm glad I got the experience. Hopefully next time, it will feel like a walk in the park.

Now this week.. pretty much chaos on my part.

After two days off, I got to hit the ground running at work. We're practicing the new show (which I will be producing 3x a week) and kicking off our college football coverage Friday from the big tailgate party in town.. where I will be field producing. Oh, and I work the morning shift two days next week. I'm pretty sure my sleep schedule is all kinds of off kilter and my body hates me.

What else is new?

I keep reminding myself that my trip to DFW is less than two months away.. I'll finally be back in one of my favorite places in the world with my friends. I miss Texas.. and I know it's only going to get worse when winter rears its ugly head. The sledding will be fun and that's about it.

Thank goodness for football season.

Which reminds me.. the biggest news of the day? Jess came through yet again.. she has trouble with gas stoves and dishwashers, but she knows how to score tickets for pretty much any event imaginable. And if you thought our last excursion was insanity.. just wait. We're doing Chicago-South Bend-Ann Arbor-Detroit in under 48 hours. Yes, folks.. that is three states - and all the fun kicks off in just over a week.

I. Can't. Wait.

You think you know.. and now you do.

1. What is your occupation?
I work as a TV news producer, which means I write the newscast and decide what goes into a show - from the stories right down to the graphics.

2. What color are your socks?
I'm barefoot.

3. What are you listening to right now?
George Strait, because his music makes me feel like I'm at home in Texas.

4. What was the last thing you ate.
Strawberries.

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
YES. My first car was a stick!

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
I'm not sure.. maybe Tickle Me Pink? Or Electric Blue.

7. Last person you were on the phone with?
A woman from the blood center. She called to ask me to donate - and the funny part is that I'd just called there maybe an hour earlier to make sure I could take my allergy pill before donating tomorrow!

8. Do you like the person that sent this to you?
Um. I actually just stumbled on this online and decided to do it. So, maybe?

9. Favorite Drink?
Iced tea.

10. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Football, hands down. Then basketball, hockey and baseball.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Quite a few times. My hair is my way of being rebellious. (I know, I'm such a rebel)

12.Pets?
Not here in Indiana - two dogs and a cat in Texas.

13. Favorite Food?
Chocolate-covered strawberries are my kryptonite.

14. Last movie you watched?
The Notebook - don't judge.

15. Favorite day of the year?
My birthday or Christmas.

16. What do you do to vent anger?
I cry. Or I curse. Such a classy girl, I know.

17. What was your favorite toy as a child?
I was a total Barbie girl and a bookworm.

18. What is your favorite? Fall or Spring?
Of the two options - fall, because it's football season!

19. Hugs or Kisses? 
What kind? And who are they from? I'm particularly a fan of the original Hershey's Kiss. ;)

20. What kind of pie?
Cherry

21. Living arrangements?
I live by myself in a nice little apartment.

22. When was the last time you cried?
Today. Lots of things happening back in Texas that I have no control over.. and I just wish there was something I could do.

23. What is on the floor of your closet?
Shoes. I ran out of room on my shelving.

24. Who is the friend you’ve had the longest that you are tagging?
I won't tag anyone. I just wanted to do this for fun.

25. The friend that you have known the shortest amount of time that you are tagging?
See above.

26. Favorite smell?
Sun-ripened Raspberry or the smell of Jamba Juice.
 27. What inspires you?
People who aren't afraid to stand up for what they believe in. And my parents.

28. What are you afraid of?
I wouldn't say I'm afraid of them, but I do not like a lot of reptiles. They give me the absolute creeps.

29. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?
Plain.. but I wouldn't mind spicy.

30. Favorite cat breed?
I've never owned a purebred cat, so any breed with a personality? I don't know.

31. Number of keys on your key ring?
Six. I think.

32. How many years at your current job?
Technically.. I just celebrated the half-year mark.

33. Favorite day of the week?
Friday.

34. How many states have you lived in?

Four - Texas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Indiana

35. How many countries have you been to?
Two - the U.S. and Canada... sadly, I lived within hours of Mexico but have never been. 

You've come a long way, baby

It occurred to me that yesterday (Aug. 21) marks my six-month anniversary with my job here in South Bend. September 9th will mark my 5th month of producing on-air.

Where did the time go?!?!?

I popped onto my old station's website and realized I only know a handful of people working there now.. crazy. And by know, I mean remember. I doubt anyone there remembers me!

Summer 2007. It seems like just yesterday I was walking into WOAI for the first time.. hoping I'd be smart enough to land an internship with just one year of college under my belt. Heck, I think I'd only taken two journalism classes at TCU at that point. I somehow talked my way into it - and to this day, I'm still not quite sure how.

I remember skipping lunch on my first day, just so I could finish logging an interview for an investigative piece. The interviewee had a thick accent, which made the job that much more difficult - but I was so determined to prove that I was a hard worker who wasn't going to half-ass my job.

The producer I was assigned to work with kicked me out the door an hour early so I could eat - just in time to run into one of the anchors coming in for the day. I was a big fan, but again - determined to be professional - so I stopped her IN THE DOORWAY (yeah, so professional) and introduced myself.

Four years later and I'm still shaking my head. I was a dork.

I tried really hard that summer.. and had a blast, but remember the gut-wrenching feeling I got when I got back to school. I had started my sophomore/junior year already, but needed to finish my project binder to present for my internship credit. The binder had to feature samples of my work, an essay and a review from our internship coordinator - in this case, my producer.

She wrote on the review that I was great at research and always willing to help, but never did any on-camera work during my internship. (I should note here - that was the summer I decided I wanted to be a producer, not a reporter) On the question about whether or not she would hire me to work there.. she said that I would do best by starting in a smaller market.

Okay. Let's be honest here. I was two classes into my major, barely 19 years old and interning in market 37. Come on. But instead of being realistic and taking her opinion with a grain of salt, I took it pretty hard.

I completely respect and admire this producer to this day, but I just felt a bit underestimated. It hurt a lot, especially since I thought I had done really well. So I beat myself up for a few days.. then I decided to let her words fuel my determination to get into this business.

My whole life has been full of people who've thought I couldn't do this or couldn't do that.. and I've always worked to prove them wrong. I busted my backside to get through college in three years and out into the world - when many thought I couldn't.

When I finally graduated, I ran into dead ends everywhere. Seriously. The economy was crap (of course, see how much has changed since '09) and virtually no one was hiring. I didn't want to be unemployed beyond that summer.. and by sheer luck, I found myself at the newspaper right on time - September 2009.

Was it perfect? No. I was not exactly thrilled about moving to a tiny town and working in print.. but I was thankful for the work. And now, I'm thankful for the experience. I covered so many different topics.. it was pretty much ridiculous. I like to think that there was a reason I ended up in that job. Actually, quite a few reasons. I didn't know it then, but I do now.

It still blows me away when I think back to the day I was offered the job I have now. I remember sitting in my car and just wanting to cry because I was finally going to do what I set out to do. When I think about it, I still kind of feel like I have no business being here.. because there have to be people who are better qualified for this than I am.

I try to go into work every day with the idea that I am going to work as hard as I possibly can to prove that I deserve to be here. Because when things go wrong - and things have a tendency to do that if I'm producing, see power outage, Osama's death, major SWAT standoff - and I feel like I can't do this, I know it's my time to show everyone what I'm really made of.

My mother has always said that I'm my own worst critic. And I expect so much more of myself than anyone else does. She's right.. again.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm tired (just wrapped up a long week of fill-in producing), but even just sitting here thinking about all of this.. I have tears in my eyes. Yes, it's ridiculous. Yes, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. But even through all of the insanity, I really love what I do.

I just can't believe that four years after I decided this was it.. I'm finally here.

Since the day I left Milwaukee.. Lynchburg... Bordeaux, France..

I lucked out - no work for me today! Thank goodness, because I've probably sneezed twice just while writing this sentence. I should own stock in Puffs Plus tissues.

Anyway, I managed to get out of my apartment long enough to pick up a few things. What I anticipated would be a quick run to the bargain store (yep, I'm cheap.. aka broke!) turned into a complete social lesson.

Seriously. I do not understand why cheap shopping has to mean putting up with people who don't know how to raise their kids. I know I'm not a parent (thank goodness), but what happened to teaching your children how to behave themselves?

I went to four stores in one strip mall.. and every single one included at least one child running wild with no parent in sight. If my brother, sister and I had behaved that way, my parents would've let us have it. Heck, I got in trouble for not saying "yes, ma'am" to an ER doctor - and I was the patient!

I know kids are hard work.. I've been babysitting for as long as I can remember. But to just let your child do whatever they want, make a ton of noise and speak without manners? Maybe it's the South in me talking.. but I think it's just common sense.. which obviously is far from common these days.

Oh.. and before I forget.. when you go to the store, please don't yell your conversations. No one really wants to hear how quickly your family goes through toilet paper or whether you like the store's version of a particular product.

And that's where the blog title comes in - thank you, Brad Paisley ("Alcohol")

My shopping trip nearly required alcohol. That's ridiculous.. although a glass of wine might not be so bad for this cold.

Cheers.

Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years

My friend called me a workaholic. This week, she might be right.

I'm doing the 6p show tomorrow and possibly working straight through Sunday - 8 shows in 6 days. I guess that's the joy of being 23, single, no kids, not on vacation and only a little sick.

They're going to try to work in a day off for me somewhere. That's okay.. I'd rather be known for being a hard worker than someone who's hardly working. :)

I did the 11p show on Friday and nearly got a swift kick in the rear, thanks to having a barebones staff. That being said, I think we really did well for having breaking news (a SWAT standoff at that) and few people around to help out.

So today is currently my lone day off this week.. sweet.

I did manage to squeeze in a trip to the movies to check out the Glee 3D movie with friends. It's funny, I totally remember wanting to be a Mouseketeer. Today.. I kind of want to join the McKinley High Glee Club. I love to sing and dance - even though I have two left feet.

I'm actually quite surprised I didn't sing along with the entire movie. However, I did sing "Don't Stop Believin'" as the credits rolled on my way out of the theater. I'm sure people really appreciated that.

Kind of like the state trooper that caught me singing along to Lady Gaga at a red light. You know I'm cute, you have to love me.

Never a dull moment

My life is seriously going to be a best-seller.

I know it's Tuesday, but let me take you back to Sunday.

My 6:30 show was a mess. Without total elaboration and out of respect for friends/coworkers, let me just say that things beyond our control threw the whole show off. That seemed to be the theme of the night.

I was writing my 11p show and listening to the scanners for storm damage - a nightmare. Just when things seemed to settle down, a storm rolled into town and knocked the power out. It's 8:40ish.. my show is in just over 2 hours. And I'm not even close to being ready.

The kicker? The power didn't come back on.

After a few phone calls, our bosses came in to see what we could do. Long story short.. we eventually set up a makeshift studio in our parking lot with light kits and a Live U backpack. Everyone was scrambling to get things pulled together, only to have the power come back on around 10:30ish.

But there's always something. In this case.. I couldn't access my producing software, which means NO SCRIPTS. Our clocks were also off, which makes it incredibly hard to time a show with commercial breaks.

No scripts, no video, no graphics - I honestly don't know how we filled a half hour.. in fact, we got cut off because the one clock I was able to use ended up freezing and killed my timing. To be brutally honest, it's all kind of a blur. I was physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of it, so all I really remember is turning to my bosses at the end of the show to say, "Wow, that was fun."

What I really meant was: "Please don't ever make me do that again."

The only reason we survived it: I have fantastic co-workers who kick butt at their jobs and bosses who apparently have a lot of faith in me.

____________________________________

Fast forward another hour after the show.. my friend/coworker and I were out the door and on our way to Sandusky, Ohio. Sound familiar?

Sandusky is home to Cedar Point, one of the biggest and baddest rollercoaster-packed amusement parks in the world. 17 coasters in all - but one coaster specifically prohibits adults from riding without a child in tow (I learned this the hard way), so it really shouldn't count in that list. So make that 16 coasters.

I won't bore you with the details, but we managed to ride every single coaster (of the 16) and the rest of the thrill rides in just 2 days. That includes Millennium Force, the top steel coaster in the world with a 300 ft drop, and Top Thrill Dragster, which shoots riders up a 400-ft hill at 120 mph. In a word: AMAZING.

That's the climb on the first hill of Millennium Force (straight out of the station) as seen from the drive to the back of the park. This was also taken on my phone; I'm kind of proud of the shot.

Anyway, my head's probably a bit scrambled from all of the coasters/rides.. and my legs are killing me. We powerwalked/ran everywhere and stood in line for several hours. I'm pretty much exhausted. Again. I've been home a whole two hours - surprised I'm not asleep yet.

But it was so worth it. Cedar Point's been on my list of places to visit for YEARS, so this was a big deal for me. I can't wait to go back!

Instead, it's back to work tomorrow. I'm almost afraid to ask what else this week has in store for me.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There is quite a bit going on in my world this week.. and I'm pretty sure this blog is one of the only ways I will ever be able keep track of when all of this stuff actually happened.

Yesterday.

I talked my way into tagging along with my amazing coworker (also named Emily) while she covered the Michael Floyd press conference at Notre Dame. Long story short - ND wide receiver gets busted on DUI earlier this year, player is then suspended for x-amount of time. In a surprise twist, player is then fully reinstated just four months later, before the season begins.

I'm not a Notre Dame fan, but considering the university is obviously in our station viewing area.. I should probably know at least a little bit about what's going on. And.. I really just wanted to go to a sports press conference.

Today.

My first day working on the morning (6am) show.. I have to learn how to produce it myself so I can fill in for our regular AM producer while she is on vacation. I've managed to survive filling in for the 6 and 11 weekday producers (back to the 11p show next week!) several times, but the morning show is literally a whole other monster at the end of the book.

And if you didn't get that reference, shame on you.

In order to keep myself awake, I spent quite a bit of time on Twitter (top notch news resource, I tell you) and ended up tweeting Robin Meade (aka the really pretty anchor on HLN's Morning Express). When I tweet celebrities/well-known personalities, I know that 99.9999 percent of the time they are not going to respond.

That being said.. I have a new reason to love Robin.

Words cannot explain how ridiculously happy this made me. I would LOVE to work on Morning Express one day.

Anyway, I have round two of morning shadowing tonight/tomorrow - which actually means I have to go to bed around 4pm today. Weird.

In the meantime.

I have - of course - been back on Twitter, where I learned the rather unsettling news that a gunman may have been spotted on the Virginia Tech campus. Seeing as I was a freshman in college in April 2007, the combination of the terms "gunman" and "Virginia Tech" leave a certain pit in the bottom of my stomach.

I will never forget the events that unfolded that day. I still get the creeps when I hear the Collective Soul song that the gunman supposedly listened to on repeat, I remember the fear that we all seemed to feel knowing it could happen anywhere, and the way people came together, because that day we were all Hokies.

That was also the day that the Fort Worth-TCU Symphonic Chorale was set to perform the Verdi Requiem at Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth. We'd been rehearsing for months.. and the Verdi is not for the faint of heart. It's intense and passionate.. something well beyond my years. Yet at 18 years old, I was singing in a massive concert with more than 100 other college students, managing my way through the words in Latin.. reading the words on the page in English.. and thinking about the irony of it all.

"Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death ... when you will come to judge the world by fire."

Not something you easily forget. Especially when it could potentially be happening again.

Random Musings.. Part 1 of a Billion

10:20pm on a Thursday night.. I'm just minutes from walking out the door to wrap up my evening shift at the station.

"Emily, wanna go shoot something?"

So there I was.. sitting in a station car with camera gear and Google Maps directions, trying to plan the best way to get to this South Bend intersection in as little time as possible without getting into a wreck or getting pulled over.

I should note here that I've not picked up a full-fledged TV camera since 2008. I started producing in January '09.. and the rest is black and white (newspaper) history.

I somehow survived.. and while my amazing (by amazing, I mean 'how the hell did I do that' camera work) video didn't make the 11p show.. it was a VO in the 6am show!!!

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Completely shifting gears.. I have been a Michigan fan since 2007 - the same year I got a chance to perform on the UofM campus in Ann Arbor with the TCU Concert Chorale and band.
I have this thing about buying shirts from every college campus I've visited, so I own a nice Michigan tee. But I've yet to get my hands on a Notre Dame shirt.. mainly because I have a couple of friends who wouldn't take kindly to it. I've bought a Kansas shirt here in South Bend.. but no Irish gear.

I just happened to throw on my Michigan shirt today - only to get yelled at the gas station to go back to Michigan. Funny. I have Texas license plates. Epic fail, dumbass-driver-who-probably-never-went-to-college-anyway!

Well.. I decided to show my Michigan pride at a local bar/restaurant tonight.. Enjoy.

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Anyone notice that the next Atlantic hurricane is set to be named Emily? Maybe she'll get the (raining) job done.. since Don obviously couldn't do it himself. :)

Here goes nothing

If you've read any of my blogs before - you know I have a hard time finishing what I've started. For some strange reason, I've decided to get back on and try again.

And if you've never read anything I've written... allow me to give you fair warning. I'm a 23-year-old overachiever who is as Type-A as they come and I have a knack for saying things that tend to come back and bite me in the... well, you get the picture.

I'm an emotional old soul, meaning I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and I don't always fit in with my own age group. I usually feel more comfortable around people older than me, mainly because it guarantees a legitimate discussion about something other than grade-school drama.

Five months ago, I decided to make the big move from my beloved home state of Texas to the great state of Indiana. (Great? Well, I wasn't sure what else to call it. And I'm not a Hoosier by any means.. no matter what my driver's license says.) Why? Because it was time for me to break out of my comfort zone yet again and do something ridiculous... like move over a thousand miles from home to a place I've never been where I didn't know a soul. You can't grow if you don't try new things. I love Texas - it's where I was born and God willing, it's where I'll die - but there's got to be more to my own story than just life in the Lone Star State.

It wasn't that long ago that I was asking where Notre Dame was - I knew Indiana, but that was it. Surprise, surprise - the Golden Dome is now a hop, skip and a jump from my desk. I still don't know much about the Fighting Irish, except that their fans are a bit crazy and that their women's basketball team lost to my Aggies in the National Championship. And of course, Rudy.

Now I'm doing my best to navigate the wacky world that is television news and learn as much as I can without going insane. I like to say that my bosses enjoy throwing a wrench into the mix on a regular basis and that my job involves spinning straw into gold, but the truth is that I absolutely love what I do.

Don't get me wrong. There are days that I wonder what the hell I was thinking coming here.. and others that I have no idea what my life would be like if I hadn't seized the opportunity. Sometimes I'm just a twenty-something mess and if you don't like it, don't read. I'm hoping that this blog will actually help me remember some crazy moments on this journey so I can write my best-selling novel about my life a few years down the road. Trust me - this should be fun.

So with that being said.. here goes nothing.